Smart Money has a series of "10 things" articles where the magazine purports to reveal the "dirty secrets" of an industry.  It came out with 10 Things Estate Planners Won't Tell You.

Many of these are just exaggerated hyperbole that doesn't apply to most planners but could easily be ascertained if you ask some basic questions.  These include  "I want to be your executor", "I want to sell you insurance", and "I don't really have much experience with estate planning."  If your attorney wants to be your executor and you haven't asked him or her, run.  You can also ask your attorney how long he or she has been engaged in estate planning, how much continuing education she has had in the field, and even how often she encounters cases like yours.

As for selling insurance, there are insurance professionals who call themselves estate planners. Some are really knowledgeable about the tools and taxes and are key players on the estate planning team.  While they may not have much experience with the legal issues and usually have not had to probate a will or settle a trust, they do know the insurance tools that can be a part of the plan.  The problem is with insurance salesman who then just want the attorney to "draft the documents."  See my earlier post on Trusting Your Estate or Business Plan to a Nonlawyer.

There are also attorneys with insurance licenses.  Usually that just lets them work more closely with the insurance agent when insurance is an appropriate tool in your plan.  Of course, that can lead to conflicts where your attorney (or your non-attorney insurance agent) is more interested in his or her commission on a product than on whether the product fits you.  You should definitely be on the lookout for that, but honestly is that not the same whenever you deal with anyone who expects you to pay them for their product of service?  Both my family physician and my eye doctor have recommended tests that aren't covered by insurance.  They make money from those, obviously.  But that doesn't mean that they are only out to sell me the "upgrade".

As for "secrets" 4 and 7 you'll notice that I address some of these items in my website and blog.  Certainly not everyone needs a living trust, and most people need to be more concerned about the people side of planning than about taxes.  That's why I'm an estate planning counselor and not a document salesman.  I'm there to help you understand what you do need and how to go about dealing with the ramifications of your planning (or lack of planning).

But Number 6 is just plain irksome.  The title "My Customer Service Stinks" implies that it is the planner's fault that you didn't keep your plan up to date.  Yet even the example used in the piece was one of the client not following up, not the attorney.  Maintenance and follow up on your plan are indeed important and you hear me preach them all the time.  But you get what you pay for.  If you treat estate planning like a commodity, then you need to expect a commodity.  If you shop for the "cheapest living trust" then why are you surprised when the attorney doesn't feel obligated to follow up with you in the years that follow?  If you want your attorney to take the lead in maintenance and followup you have to pay for it.  Oh wait, that would take us back to the supposed problem in Secret 5 because the attorney would have to recommend an additional service.  So, if we follow the logic of this article estate planners can't win for losing.

Maybe I'll do a post on "10 Things Simplistic Magazine Articles Won't Tell You."  I'll start with Number 1 -- It's Easier to Pen Scare Tactics Than Report the Complex Truth.